25 Aug 2014. <GB-ENG> Coventry, Warw —

A wet Bank Holiday Monday. Wouldn't think there'd be much to do, but we went into Coventry to see what we could see. Parked the van in the Memorial Park park and ride, took the bus in. It dropped us in Trinity Street, just at the right end of town to visit the cathedral. As this was the main reason for visiting Coventry, off we went!

Coventry was devastated in a Nazi bombing raid on the night of 14 November 1940. It was particularly devastating when the inhabitants later came to believe that the codebreakers at Bletchley Park had read and understood the German communications that presaged the raid (although this has subsequently been debunked). The medieval cathedral at Coventry fell victim to German incendiary bombs, and on the morning after, only the spire and the peripheral walls were still standing.

After the war was over, instead of rebuilding the cathedral, a totally new and modern cathedral was constructed, leaving the ruin of the old cathedral across its entrance as a memorial to the futility of war. The new cathedral was primarily a huge empty space which numerous artists would be able to decorate. The stained glass is incredible, but the star of the whole is the tapestry hanging behind the main altar (and behind the Lady Chapel which sits behind the high altar). The design for this tapestry by Graham Sutherland (a watercolorist) was faithfully rendered by the tapestry workers in Felletin in France, so faithfully that you can see his very brushstrokes rendered in the threads. The tapestry is huge, the size of a tennis court. To give you an idea of the scale, the figure of man between Christ's feet is near-life-size, at 5'1" tall!

The new cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962. For the occasion, a new work was performed — Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.

We wandered the building, exploring its many nooks and crannies — there's something new every way you turn. One of the most exquisite parts is the Chapel of Christ in Gethsemane, with a concrete and gilt mural, and a steel crown-of-thorns screen at its entrance.

We left to have lunch, returning before 1pm, when their Monday Lunchtome Concert featured the organist Tim Campain, with a varied concert of Henry Smart, Buxtehude, Ireland and Georgi Aleksandrovich Mushel — and one anonymous 17th century work, "The Lord Mayor's Swan Hopping Trumpet Tune" — altogether a wonderful, relaxing half-hour in this wonderful cathedral!

We walked about a little more, then wandered into the Herbert Museum just opposite.

They had a few rather disparate exhibitions going — one on art and legend surrounding Coventy's medieval celebrity, Lady Godiva; another on various representations of the four elements, earth, air, water and fire; another on the history of Coventry from medieval times to the present.

One exhibit intrigued Warren — an 1840 jacquard ribbon-weaving loom. Warren's interest was because the punched cards used to control the loom were the precursors to the punched cards used for early computer input.

We enjoyed the Herbert, then returned to our van and to the same site we used the previous night — it was easier doing this than going in search of another, and the site was really quite good!

Distance driven — today, 11 miles ( 17 km ); to date, 6,448 miles ( 10,377 km )

24 Aug 2014. <GB-ENG> Doe Lea, Chesterfield, Derby —

Today, because we were so close, we decided to go back to Hardwick Hall and visit the Old Hall, and look a little closer at the garden.

The Old Hall, much the same age as the New Hall (at least, when you take into consideration the latest modifications made by Bess), is far more of a ruin. Nevertheless, it's quite fascinating, as you can see the way Bess was working out her ideas that she then applied in the New Hall. We explored the Old Hall, climbing right up to the top of the rather wonky staircase to the rooftop level.

This Hall is special because there are the remains of magnificent moulded plaster wall decorations, above many of the fireplaces, and parts of friezes in some of the more stately rooms.

We then went over to the New Hall, but this time to the gardens. We sat in on a talk by one of the gardeners, who explained what they were trying to do with the gardens — most interesting. You look at a garden and see a display of flowers. You don't realise that the colours have been planned so you have cooler colours furthest from the house, and the colours become warmer the closer you get to the house — but that is exactly what they've done at Hardwick!

While walking the garden, we were visited by the cheekiest little squirrel! We then went back to the cafe for a light lunch, after which we left Hardwick did a 3-day shop at Tesco, buying Susie a new laptop to replace the one she has had up to now, about 8 years old and not powerful enough to run Windows 8 without grinding to a halt! This will make it easier for her to keep up on facebook and other social media. We then left the vicinity of Hardwick and started on our way towards Coventry. We got there about 2 hours later, spent a little time at Macca's to catch up on a couple of days of blog, then went out towards Kenilworth (only a couple of miles out of town) to find a spot to spend the night.

Distance driven — today, 91 miles ( 147 km ); to date, 6,437 miles ( 10,360 km )

23 Aug 2014. <GB-ENG> Bolsover, & Doe Lea, Chesterfield, Derby —

Happy Anniversary! 45 years and still counting!

Today we're exploring the Cavendish family — Bolsover Castle, erected on the site of an earlier castle by Charles Cavendish and his son William in the half century from 1612, and Hardwick Hall, erected by Charles' mother Bess of Hardwick, who had it built in the last decade of the 16th century. The hall at Hardwick doesn't open till noon, so we went to Bolsover Castle first.

Charles Cavendish began Bolsover as a retreat (his principal residence was in Welsbeck) in 1612, taking over the site of a ruined castle from the late 11th century. William inherited in 1617 and went on to complete the buildings.

He entertained King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria there in 1634, when the masque 'Love's Welcome', specially written for the occasion by Ben Johnson, was performed in the garden. During the Civil War, William fought for the Royalists and, after their defeat at the Battle of Marsdon Moor, went into exile. On his return in 1660 he repaired Bolsover, rebuilt the Riding House Range and rebuilt the state apartment. William was a keen horseman and an expert in the art of manège, which has since developed into the modern British form of dressage. The Riding House Range contained stables, a smithy and shoeing house, and an indoor riding house which is in full use today for weekly exhibitions.

The "Little Castle" was a retreat, and was set up to entertain royally. It is somewhat of a maze inside — intentional — and the rooms are exquisite. Those that still have their 17th century ceiling paintings and friezes simply have to be seen to be believed. The kitchens in the basement were suitable to cook up a king's feast — and were used for this purpose on occasion!

While we were exploring this mad folly, we were asking ourselves "Where did he get his money?" as he really had perfected the art of splashing it about. We found out at our next destination, Hardwick Hall. This was built by Bess of Hardwick, aka Elizabeth, the Countess of Shrewsbury, in the last two decades of her colourful life. She had started off as the daughter of a fairly comfortably-off sheep-farmer, and had gone into service in the household of Sir John Zouche of Condnor Castle in Derbyshire. In about 1543 she married her cousin Robert Barlow, who was somewhat better off than she. He died within a year, and his brother (who would have inherited but for her) tried to cut her off.

The 'Penelope' embroidery, freshly restored

She, however, took him to court and won — for her to do this at the age of only 18 indicates that she was an indomitable woman! Three years later she married Sir William Cavendish, who had made a fortune as one of the commissioners for the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. She had 8 children by him, six of whom survived. When William died, he left her a life interest in Chatsworth and a substantial part of his property. Her third marriage, again upwards, was to Sir William Loe, who when he died left her most of his property. Then, in 1567, she married George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, a widower with 6 children. At 40, he was head of one of the richest and grandest families in England. Bess set up this marriage in a way that ensured his wealth would remain in her family — as part of the deal, his second son married her daughter Mary, and his daughter married her eldest son Henry.

Within two years Lord Shrewsbury was saddled with an onerous task by Queen Elizabeth — he was put in charge of the captivity of Mary, Queen of Scots, a task that would remain with him for 15 years, and which would have grave effects on his peace of mind. When Lord Shrewsbury died in 1590, Bess (who had become estranged from him) recovered complete control of all her lands, and had a very large widow's jointure in addition. She become one of the richest people in England — the second-richest woman, second only to Queen Elizabeth herself. So she embarked on a program of conspicuous consumption. She built Hardwick Hall, a building with more glass than stone in its exterior — at a time when glass was one of the most expensive commodities around. She furnished it with extreme splendour — but at times she showed why she has become such a rich woman. As a case in point, she bought a huge number of tapestries, but talked the price down because they had worked into them the coat of arms of the previous owner, so she would have to have them covered over by her own coat of arms worked onto what might be called tapestry patches.

Oh, by the way, during all this to-ing and fro-ing, Bess had become lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth, and had struck up a lasting friendship with her. Some of the furniture in Hardwick Hall was a direct gift from the queen. One piece in particular, a table set on four sea-dogs, is the absolute cream of the woodcarver's art, and is positively priceless!

We explored Hardwick Hall for a couple of hours — we could have spent longer, but the place was in the process of closing down for the day. Let it be said that this and Bolsover Castle are two of the most fascinating places we have had the privilege to visit!

As we left Hardwick Hall, we decided to overnight on a layby on a side road we had accidentally passed through during the day — so here we are, in the back of nowhere, expecting a ver-r-r-r-y quiet night!

Distance driven — today, 36 miles ( 58 km ); to date, 6,346 miles ( 10,213 km )

22 Aug 2014. <GB-ENG> York, N Yorks; Stamford Bridge, E Yorks; Edwinstowe (Sherwood Forest), Notts —

Today we could sleep in a little, as we were camped only about 10 minutes from our first destination. This was an English Heritage site, but a most unusual one. It is the York Cold War Bunker, the headquarters of the Royal Observer Corps No.20 Group. One of 29 such headquarters bunkers, in its operational time it had a staff of 60, and had about 40 3-man observation posts reporting to it. Its sole raison d'être was to report nuclear strikes on the British mainland in its own vicinity, and was part of a reporting system that covered first Great Britain, and then the whole of the NATO Treaty countries.

Rachel, our guide for the tour, was delightful — from Monday to Thursday they run tours for schools, and she's obviously well used to boisterous children, so adults were child's play for her! We were taken through the support areas — decontamination, air filtration, heat dissipation, dormitories, the canteen — before we were shown into the operations room, and then the telephone exchange.

In the operations room was a piece of equipment that in the 1960s was top secret — Audrey — a computer that took a lot of the tedious tasks away from the human staff. But she couldn't be trusted — she couldn't tell the difference between a nuclear explosion and a lightning strike, or fireworks on bonfire night.

Farewell York!

After leaving the bunker, we tried to go out to the site of the Battle of Stamford Bridge. No luck — the battlefield seems not to be marked. Nevertheless, Warren was satisfied, as he was able to determine that the terrain in the whole area is dead flat, so the only external influences on the battle would have been the River Ouse and the Bridge itself. (For those who don't know about this battle, it was where King Harald of England repulsed a Danish invasion attempt only days before having to fight his fateful battle at Hastings against William of Normandy, and which may well have reduced his chances of success at the latter battle.)

We then set off southwards, intending to visit Bolsover Castle or Hardwicke Hall, both not far from Chesterfield, and not far north of Nottingham. There was a huge hold-up on the A1, the M18 and the M1, which would have been our route down, so we decided to take alternate roads, which put us behind schedule for these two sites, but took us right by the Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve, so we decided to pay our respects to Robin Hood instead! A pleasant afternoon tea in the restaurant (to allow a fairly heavy rain shower to pass), and then a pleasant walk through the woods.

Apparently this piece of mainly oak and birch woodland is in fairly pristine condition, much as it was 500 years ago, and so is of great interest to naturalists. And, of course, it's a magnet to all the kids who have the romance of Robin Hood in their blood! There's a well-set-up visitors' centre with an exhibition about Robin Hood and his band, and also an introduction to the flora and fauna of the area.

There's a huge old oak tree — The Major Oak — which is over 1000 years old. It's so old and creaking with age that it has a huge number of braces now attached to it to stop it collapsing or branches from snapping off. Legend has it that Robin Hood's camp was near this tree.

The Major Oak

Anyway, we left after a couple of hours and have camped in a layby only a couple of miles away — giving us a good start for Bolsover Castle and Hardwicke Hall tomorrow.

Distance driven — today, 100 miles ( 161 km ); to date, 6,310 miles ( 10,155 km )

21 Aug 2014. <GB-ENG> York, N Yorks —

Into York, to the Park-and-Ride we had sussed out the other day. Parked and took the bus into town (about 15 minutes!). The day wasn't sure what it wanted to do — we had overcast, and a few spits of rain.

We got off the bus right beside Clifford's Tower, the ruin of a motte and bailey castle first built by William the Conqueror in 1068. We went straight up to it, as we wanted to make sure we had visited this somewhat unprotected site before the rain set in. We explored it fairly quickly, as much of what was there was what we had seen at other sites. One thing we noticed was that the vertical walls and the horizontal floors were not — the motte (the mound the castle was built on) was man-made, and over the years it has settled somewhat.

English Heritage has made a concerted effort to reinforce the foundations, and there is continuous structural monitoring of the whole site to make sure that no further deterioration is allowed to happen. The external walls of the bailey form four circular towers, and there was once a square tower in the middle. The entire internal structure has disappeared, so we can only imagine the layout of the floors. The curtain walls and towers that would have enclosed this motte and bailey have totally disappeared, but there is sufficient evidence for historians to draw up fairly complete plans.

Anyway, we left Clifford's Tower and walked through the town — much of it a pedestrian precinct through streets with many medieval buildings. On the way, we noticed a camera shop, York Camera Mart, and Warren decided to try his luck — he's been wanting to replace the main lens on his camera for some time, as its automatic focusing mechanism has been non-functional for at least 8 weeks!

Not only did the man have a lens, it was a later model with a greater zoom range, and had been opened as a demonstration model, so was about £150 off. It was still over £500, but the old lens had done sterling work for 7 years, and this one was somewhat better — and fully functional! Warren is in photographer's heaven!

We then walked up to York Minster. Mind-blowing! This is a huge edifice, in superb condition. There is restoration work being carried out, and from what we could see, it will be something like the painting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge — as soon as you get it done, you have to start all over at the beginning!

The nave of the Cathedral was built between 1290 and the 1350s, in the Decorated Gothic style. The Cathedral, now Anglican, is the largest surviving Gothic cathedral north of the Alps.

We wandered the cathedral, and Warren went up the 275 steps to the top of the tower. The weather was deteriorating, but he was able to get a few shots of York from this vantage point. We then went into the Undercroft, where there is an exhibition detailing the history of the cathedral, and also the work that has been done in the 1980s to stabilise it — in fact, much of the display is on top of the huge concrete blocks that have been poured in place with huge steel reinforcing rods!

Also on show is a lot of the Danish/Viking archaeology that came out of the ground while they were preparing this work. Also in the Undercroft is the Treasury, which has Church treasures dating back to the Viking age!

After our time in the Minster, we wandered the streets a little more, and then down to the Jorvik Viking Centre. This was not quite what we expected — it was so much more. You start off by being taken on a theme-park type ride through ancient Coppergate, the street that has been excavated so extensively.

The figures of the inhabitants operate animatronically, and interact with the 'guide', the recorded commentary that lets you know what you are seeing. Warren had fun, as these interactions were in Old Norse and, in spite of being pretty rusty, he could understand most of the conversations. The thing is that the excavations here uncovered about 9 metres of archaeological remains, in moist peaty soil which preserved even the organic remains which are usually lost. This means that the leather goods and clothing were virtually intact, and even the food scraps revealed a huge amount about diet and cooking techniques.

After a most enjoyable afternoon, we went back to Clifford's Tower (where we got a couple more shots, this time in sunshine), and caught the bus back to our van. We camped a little out of town, off the A19, ready to come back into York tomorrow.

Distance driven — today, 40 miles ( 64 km ); to date, 6,210 miles ( 9,994 km )

20 Aug 2014. <GB-ENG> Whitby, & East Harlsey, N Yorks —

Today was a fine day, with some patches of full sunshine, some of light overcast. We went in to Whitby, and up to the abbey. What is now on the headland above the city are the remains of a 12th century Benedictine abbey, but the site has a very important earlier history. There was an important monastery founded in Streaneshalch (the Anglo-Saxon name of the city renamed Whitby by the Danes in the 9th century) in AD657 by St Hild, with the support of King Oswiu of Northumbria.

In 664 the abbey was the site of what is now known as the Great Synod of Whitby, where the discrepancy in the calculation of the date of Easter between the Celtic and the Roman traditions, was resolved — in the favour of Rome.

One of Abbess Hild's claims to fame was that she recognised the miraculous gift of a lowly uneducated herdsman who, having no talent for poetry or music, was told in a dream to sing. He said "I do not know what to sing", and he was told "Sing of Creation". The following morning, Cædmon came up with what is now known as Cædmon's Hymn, the first of many poems by the first named poet in the English language.

Although Warren learned Cædmon's Hymn in the West Saxon dialect usually studied by Old English scholars, here it is in the original Northumbrian dialect of Cædmon himself:

Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard,
metudæs maecti end his modgidanc,
uerc uuldurfadur, sue he uundra gihuaes,
eci dryctin, or astelidæ.

He aerist scop aelda barnum
heben til hrofe, haleg scepen;
tha middungeard moncynnæs uard,
eci dryctin, æfter tiadæ
firum foldu, frea allmectig.

Now we shall praise the keeper of the heavenly kingdom,
the power of the lord of destiny and his imagination,
the deeds of the glorious father, when of every glorious thing
he, the eternal lord, ordained the beginning.

He first shaped for the children of earth
the heaven as a roof, the holy creator;
then mankind's guardian, the eternal lord,
afterwards made middle-earth;
the almighty lord made land for living things.

Another eminent person from the early days of the abbey is the Venerable Bede (673-735), the writer of An Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Bede was about 7 when Cædmon died, in the same town, so their lives could well have intersected. Bede's History was later translated under Alfred from Latin into Old English.

But enough of the lecture! Let's say we had a wonderful time just taking in the long story of such an important place in early English history. We then went down into the town, which was a little more crowded than usual as the Whitby Folk Festival was in full swing. The quaint medieval streets were buzzing!

We took the opportunity to go for a short boat ride in one of their old decommissioned lifeboats, a short way up the River Esk and then out to the harbour mouth and back again. The helmsman was quite a character — more pirate than anything else, and he spent much of the trip chatting up two of the girls who had come on board. On the way we passed a scaled-down replica of James Cook's Endeavour — after all, it was here Cook served his apprenticeship as a seaman, and it was here that his Endeavour was built!

We then went back to the van and drove out towards York. Because the road out through Scarbourough involved a steep uphill slope that Gertie might have difficulty with, we opted to go in the other direction, skirting the Moors on the north side before turning back towards York. This took us past the Mount Grace Priory, a National Trust / English Heritage site.

It was originally a Carthusian charterhouse, and then was taken over on the dissolution of the monasteries, by Thomas Lascelles in 1654, who built a manor house in the ruins of the monastery, but who left parts of it intact as his family were buried in its central church. In 1900 the manor was substantially refitted by Sir Lowthian Bell in the Arts and Crafts style of the time, and this is much the way we see it today. The garden outside in the front has been redeveloped in the Arts and Crafts style over the last 25 years by English Heritage, and it is really exquisite.

The ruins of the priory, behind the manor, are fascinating. The Carthusians were an order of hermits, each monk having his own cell, living in total isolation but for the community church services — Matins (11pm), High Mass (7am), and Vespers (2.45pm). There is one cell that has been reconstructed (in the 1800s!), and now furnished by English Heritage. If by 'cell' you have the impression of something like a prison cell, you are on the wrong track. Each monk's cell was an enclosed 2-story cottage, with entry passage, a hall or living-room with a fireplace, a study and a bedroom and oratory, as well as an upper-floor workroom.

There was an enclosed garden area, which had a walkway round it forming a private cloister. There was even an enclosed walkway, with windows to the garden, that could be used instead of the cloister in inclement weather. Meals were delivered to the cell via a hatchway, and the cell could be barred from the inside — not a bad life for a recluse!

We wandered the manor, we wandered the priory, we wandered the gardens. Beautiful, quiet, relaxing. Then we left, and drove towards York for tomorrow. We were about 45 minutes short of York when Susie spied a good layby, so we pulled in for the night.

Distance driven — today, 51 miles ( 82 km ); to date, 6,170 miles ( 9,930 km )